1. Best Work Bulgakov.
2. The deep intention of the writer.
3. Complex image of Yeshua Ha-Nozri.
4. The cause of the hero's death.
5. Heartlessness and indifference of people.
6. Agreement between light and darkness.
According to literary scholars and M.A. Bulgakov himself, “The Master and Margarita” is his final work. Dying from a serious illness, the writer told his wife: “Maybe this is right... What could I write after “The Master”?” And in fact, this work is so multifaceted that the reader cannot immediately figure out which genre it belongs to. This is a fantastic, adventurous, satirical, and most of all philosophical novel.
Experts define the novel as a menippea, where a deep semantic load is hidden under the mask of laughter. In any case, “The Master and Margarita” harmoniously reunites such opposing principles as philosophy and science fiction, tragedy and farce, fantasy and realism. Another feature of the novel is the displacement of spatial, temporal and psychological characteristics. This is the so-called double novel, or a novel within a novel. Before the viewer’s eyes, echoing each other, two seemingly completely different stories. The first action takes place in modern years in Moscow, and the second takes the reader to ancient Yershalaim. However, Bulgakov went even further: it is difficult to believe that these two stories were written by the same author. Moscow incidents are described in vivid language. There is a lot of comedy, fantasy, and devilry here. Here and there the author's familiar chatter with the reader develops into outright gossip. The narrative is based on a certain understatement, incompleteness, which generally calls into question the veracity of this part of the work. When it comes to the events in Yershalaim, art style changes dramatically. The story sounds strictly and solemnly, as if this is not a work of fiction, but chapters from the Gospel: “In a white cloak with a bloody lining, and with a shuffling gait, in the early morning of the fourteenth day of the spring month of Nisan, the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, came out into the covered colonnade between the two wings of the palace of Herod the Great. .." Both parts, according to the writer’s plan, should show the reader the state of morality over the past two thousand years.
Yeshua Ha-Nozri came to this world at the beginning of the Christian era, preaching his teaching about goodness. However, his contemporaries were unable to understand and accept this truth. Yeshua was sentenced to shame death penalty- a crucifix on a pillar. From point of view religious figures, the image of this person does not fit into any Christian canons. Moreover, the novel itself has been recognized as the “gospel of Satan.” However, Bulgakov's character is an image that includes religious, historical, ethical, philosophical, psychological and other features. That is why it is so difficult to analyze. Of course, Bulgakov, as an educated person, knew the Gospel very well, but he did not intend to write another example of spiritual literature. His work is deeply artistic. Therefore, the writer deliberately distorts the facts. Yeshua Ha-Nozri is translated as the savior from Nazareth, while Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Bulgakov's hero is “a man of twenty-seven years old”; the Son of God was thirty-three years old. Yeshua has only one disciple, Matthew Levi, while Jesus has 12 apostles. Judas in The Master and Margarita was killed by order of Pontius Pilate; in the Gospel he hanged himself. With such inconsistencies, the author wants to once again emphasize that Yeshua in the work, first of all, is a person who managed to find psychological and moral support in himself and be faithful to it until the end of his life. Paying attention to appearance of his hero, he shows readers that spiritual beauty is much higher than external attractiveness: “... he was dressed in an old and torn blue chiton. His head was covered with a white bandage with a strap around his forehead, and his hands were tied behind his back. The man had a large bruise under his left eye and an abrasion with dried blood in the corner of his mouth.” This man was not divinely imperturbable. He, like ordinary people was subject to fear of Mark the Rat-Slayer or Pontius Pilate: “The man brought in looked at the procurator with anxious curiosity.” Yeshua was unaware of his divine origin, acting like an ordinary person.
Despite the fact that in the novel Special attention is paid to the human qualities of the protagonist, and his divine origin is not forgotten. At the end of the work, it is Yeshua who personifies that higher power that instructs Woland to reward the master with peace. At the same time, the author did not perceive his character as a prototype of Christ. Yeshua concentrates in himself the image of the moral law, which enters into a tragic confrontation with legal law. The main character came into this world with a moral truth - every person is kind. This is the truth of the entire novel. And with the help of it, Bulgakov seeks to once again prove to people that God exists. The relationship between Yeshua and Pontius Pilate occupies a special place in the novel. It is to him that the wanderer says: “All power is violence over people... the time will come when there will be no power either of Caesar or any other power. Man will move into the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.” Feeling some truth in the words of his prisoner, Pontius Pilate cannot let him go, for fear of harming his career. Under pressure from circumstances, he signs Yeshua’s death warrant and greatly regrets it.
The hero tries to atone for his guilt by trying to convince the priest to release this particular prisoner in honor of the holiday. When his idea fails, he orders the servants to stop tormenting the hanged man and personally orders the death of Judas. The tragedy of the story about Yeshua Ha-Nozri lies in the fact that his teaching was not in demand. People at that time were not ready to accept his truth. The main character is even afraid that his words will be misunderstood: “... this confusion will continue for a very long time.” for a long time" Yeshua, who did not renounce his teachings, is a symbol of humanity and perseverance. His tragedy, but already in modern world, repeats the Master. Yeshua's death is quite predictable. The tragedy of the situation is further emphasized by the author with the help of a thunderstorm, which completes the storyline modern history: "Dark. Coming from the Mediterranean Sea, it covered the city hated by the procurator... An abyss fell from the sky. Yershalaim has disappeared - great city, as if he did not exist in the world... Everything was devoured by darkness...”
With the death of the main character, the entire city plunged into darkness. At the same time, the moral state of the residents inhabiting the city left much to be desired. Yeshua is sentenced to “hanging on a stake,” which entails a long, painful execution. Among the townspeople there are many who want to admire this torture. Behind the cart with prisoners, executioners and soldiers “were about two thousand curious people who were not afraid of the hellish heat and wanted to be present at the interesting spectacle. These curious ones... have now been joined by curious pilgrims.” Approximately the same thing happens two thousand years later, when people strive to get to Woland’s scandalous performance in the Variety Show. From behavior modern people Satan concludes that human nature does not change: “...they are people like people. They love money, but this has always been the case... humanity loves money, no matter what it is made of, whether leather, paper, bronze or gold... Well, they are frivolous... well, and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts.”
Throughout the entire novel, the author, on the one hand, seems to draw a clear boundary between the spheres of influence of Yeshua and Woland, however, on the other hand, the unity of their opposites is clearly visible. However, despite the fact that in many situations Satan appears more significant than Yeshua, these rulers of light and darkness are quite equal. This is precisely the key to balance and harmony in this world, since the absence of one would make the presence of the other meaningless.
The peace that is awarded to the Master is a kind of agreement between two great powers. Moreover, Yeshua and Woland are driven to this decision by ordinary human love. Thus, Bulgakov still considers this wonderful feeling as the highest value.
In interpreting the image of Jesus Christ as an ideal of moral perfection, Bulgakov departed from traditional, canonical ideas based on the four Gospels and the Apostolic Epistles. V.I. Nemtsev writes: “Yeshua is the author’s embodiment in deeds positive person, towards which the aspirations of the novel’s heroes are directed.”
In the novel, Yeshua is not given a single spectacular heroic gesture. He is an ordinary person: “He is not an ascetic, not a desert dweller, not a hermit, he is not surrounded by the aura of a righteous man or an ascetic, torturing himself with fasting and prayers. Like all people, he suffers from pain and rejoices in being freed from it.”
The mythological plot on which Bulgakov’s work is projected is a synthesis of three main elements - the Gospel, the Apocalypse and “Faust”. Two thousand years ago, “a means of salvation that changed the entire course of world history” was discovered. Bulgakov saw him in spiritual feat a man who in the novel is named Yeshua Ha-Nozri and behind whom his great gospel prototype is visible. The figure of Yeshua became Bulgakov's outstanding discovery.
There is information that Bulgakov was not religious, did not go to church, and refused unction before his death. But vulgar atheism was deeply alien to him.
Real new era in the 20th century this is also the era of “personification”, a time of new spiritual self-salvation and self-government, the like of which was once revealed to the world in Jesus Christ. Such an act can, according to M. Bulgakov, save our Fatherland in the 20th century. The rebirth of God must take place in each of the people.
The story of Christ in Bulgakov’s novel is presented differently from the Holy Scriptures: the author offers an apocryphal version of the Gospel narrative, in which each of
The participants combine opposite traits and act in a dual role. “Instead of a direct confrontation between the victim and the traitor, the Messiah and his disciples and those hostile to them, a complex system is formed, between all the members of which relationships of partial similarity appear.” Reinterpretation of the canonical gospel narrative gives Bulgakov's version the character of apocrypha. Conscious and sharp rejection of the canonical New Testament tradition in the novel is manifested in the fact that the records of Levi Matthew (i.e., as it were, the future text of the Gospel of Matthew) are assessed by Yeshua as completely inconsistent with reality. The novel acts as the true version.
The first idea of the apostle and evangelist Matthew in the novel is given by Yeshua himself: “... he walks and walks alone with a goat’s parchment and writes continuously, but I once looked into this parchment and was horrified. I said absolutely nothing of what was written there. I begged him: burn your parchment for God’s sake!” Therefore, Yeshua himself rejects the reliability of the testimony of the Gospel of Matthew. In this regard, he shows unity of views with Woland-Satan: “Who, who,” Woland turns to Berlioz, “but you should know that absolutely nothing of what is written in the Gospels actually ever happened.” . It is no coincidence that the chapter in which Woland began to tell the Master’s novel was titled “The Gospel of the Devil” and “The Gospel of Woland” in the draft versions. Much in the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate is very far from the gospel texts. In particular, there is no scene of the resurrection of Yeshua, the Virgin Mary is absent altogether; Yeshua's sermons do not last three years, as in the Gospel, but, at best, several months.
As for the details of the “ancient” chapters, Bulgakov drew many of them from the Gospels and checked them according to reliable historical sources. While working on these chapters, Bulgakov, in particular, carefully studied “The History of the Jews” by Heinrich Graetz, “The Life of Jesus” by D. Strauss, “Jesus against Christ” by A. Barbusse, “The Book of My Genesis” by P. Uspensky, “Gofsemania” by A. M, Fedorov, “Pilate” by G. Petrovsky, “Procurator of Judea” by A. France, “The Life of Jesus Christ” by Ferrara, and of course, the Bible, the Gospels. A special place was occupied by E. Renan’s book “The Life of Jesus,” from which the writer drew chronological data and some historical details. Afranius came from Renan's Antichrist into Bulgakov's novel.
To create many of the details and images of the historical part of the novel, the primary impulses were some works of art. Thus, Yeshua is endowed with some qualities of Servant's Don Quixote. To Pilate’s question whether Yeshua really considers all people good, including the centurion Mark the Rat-Slayer who beat him, Ha-Nozri answers in the affirmative and adds that Mark, “truly, is an unhappy man... If only I could talk to him,” the prisoner suddenly said dreamily “I’m sure he would have changed dramatically.” In Cervantes’s novel: Don Quixote is insulted in the Duke’s castle by a priest who calls him “an empty head,” but meekly replies: “I must not see. And I don’t see anything offensive in these words kind person. The only thing I regret is that he didn’t stay with us - I would have proved to him that he was wrong.” It is the idea of “infection with good” that makes Bulgakov’s hero similar to the Knight of the Sad Image. In most cases literary sources They are so organically woven into the fabric of the narrative that for many episodes it is difficult to say unambiguously whether they are taken from life or from books.
M. Bulgakov, depicting Yeshua, does not show anywhere with a single hint that this is the Son of God. Yeshua is represented everywhere as a Man, a philosopher, a sage, a healer, but as a Man. There is no aura of holiness hovering over Yeshua, and in the scene of his painful death there is a purpose - to show what injustice is happening in Judea.
The image of Yeshua is only a personified image of the moral and philosophical ideas of humanity, the moral law entering unequal fight with legal rights. It is no coincidence that the portrait of Yeshua as such is virtually absent from the novel: the author indicates his age, describes clothing, facial expression, mentions a bruise and abrasion - but nothing more: “... they brought in... a man of about twenty-seven. This man was dressed in an old and torn blue chiton. His head was covered with a white bandage with a strap around his forehead, and his hands were tied behind his back. The man had a large bruise under his left eye and an abrasion with dried blood in the corner of his mouth. The man brought in looked at the procurator with anxious curiosity.”
To Pilate’s question about his relatives, he replies: “There is no one. I am alone in the world.” But here’s what’s strange again: this does not at all sound like a complaint about loneliness... Yeshua does not seek compassion, there is no feeling of inferiority or orphanhood in him. For him it sounds something like this: “I am alone - the whole world is in front of me,” or “I am alone in front of the whole world,” or “I am this world.” Yeshua is self-sufficient, absorbing the whole world into himself. V. M. Akimov rightly emphasized that “it is difficult to understand the integrity of Yeshua, his equality with himself - and with the whole world that he absorbed into himself.” One cannot but agree with V. M. Akimov that the complex simplicity of Bulgakov’s hero is difficult to comprehend, irresistibly convincing and omnipotent. Moreover, the power of Yeshua Ha-Nozri is so great and so all-encompassing that at first many take it for weakness, even for spiritual lack of will.
However, Yeshua Ha-Nozri is not an ordinary person. Woland-Satan sees himself as completely equal with him in the heavenly hierarchy. Bulgakovsky Yeshua is the bearer of the idea of the God-man.
The tramp-philosopher is strong with his naive faith in goodness, which neither the fear of punishment nor the spectacle of blatant injustice, of which he himself becomes a victim, can be taken away from him. His unfailing faith exists despite conventional wisdom and the object lessons of execution. In everyday practice, this idea of goodness, unfortunately, is not protected. “The weakness of Yeshua’s preaching is in its ideality,” V. Ya. Lakshin rightly believes, “but Yeshua is stubborn, and the absolute integrity of his faith in goodness has its own strength.” The author sees in his hero not only a religious preacher and reformer - he embodies the image of Yeshua in free spiritual activity.
Possessing developed intuition, subtle and strong intellect, Yeshua is able to guess the future, and not just a thunderstorm, which “will begin later, in the evening:”, but also the fate of his teaching, which is already being incorrectly stated by Levi. Yeshua is internally free. Even realizing that he is really threatened with the death penalty, he considers it necessary to say to the Roman governor: “Your life is meager, hegemon.”
B.V. Sokolov believes that the idea of “infection with good,” which is the leitmotif of Yeshua’s preaching, was introduced by Bulgakov from Renan’s “Antichrist.” Yeshua dreams of a “future kingdom of truth and justice” and leaves it open to absolutely everyone: “... the time will come when there will be no power either of the emperor or of any other power.” Man will move into the kingdom of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.
Ha-Nozri preaches love and tolerance. He does not give preference to anyone; for him, Pilate, Judas, and the Rat Slayer are equally interesting. All of them are “good people”, only “crippled” by one or another circumstance. In a conversation with Pilate, he succinctly sets out the essence of his teaching: “... evil people not in the world." Yeshua's words echo Kant's statements about the essence of Christianity, defined either as pure faith in goodness, or as a religion of goodness - a way of life. The priest in it is simply a mentor, and the church is a meeting place for teaching. Kant views goodness as a property inherent in human nature, just like evil. In order for a person to succeed as a person, that is, a being capable of perceiving respect for the moral law, he must develop a good beginning in himself and suppress the evil. And everything here depends on the person himself. For the sake of his own idea of good, Yeshua does not utter a word of untruth. If he had bent his soul even a little, then “the whole meaning of his teaching would have disappeared, for good is the truth!”, and “it is easy and pleasant to speak the truth.”
What is it main strength Yeshua? First of all, in openness. Spontaneity. He is always in a state of spiritual impulse “toward.” His very first appearance in the novel records this: “A man with hands tied He leaned forward a little and began to speak:
- A kind person! Trust me…".
Yeshua is a man, always open to the world, “Openness” and “closedness” - these, according to Bulgakov, are the poles of good and evil. “Movement towards” is the essence of good. Withdrawal and isolation are what open the way to evil. Withdrawal into oneself and a person somehow comes into contact with the devil. M. B. Babinsky notes Yeshua’s ability to put himself in the place of another in order to understand his condition. The basis of this person’s humanism is the talent of the subtlest self-awareness and, on this basis, the understanding of other people with whom fate brings him together.
This is the key to the episode with the question: “What is truth?” Yeshua responds to Pilate, suffering from hemicrania: “The truth... is that you have a headache.”
Bulgakov is true to himself here too: Yeshua’s answer is connected with the deep meaning of the novel - a call to see the truth through the hints, open your eyes, begin to see.
The truth for Yeshua is what really is. This is the removal of the veil from phenomena and things, the liberation of the mind and feelings from any constraining etiquette, from dogmas; it is overcoming conventions and obstacles. “The truth of Yeshua Ha-Nozri is the restoration of a real vision of life, the will and courage not to turn away and not to lower one’s eyes, the ability to open the world, and not to close oneself from it either by the conventions of ritual or by the emissions of the “bottom.” The truth of Yeshua does not repeat “tradition”, “regulation” and “ritual”. She becomes alive and always fully capable of dialogue with life.
But here lies the most difficult thing, for to complete such communication with the world, fearlessness is necessary. Fearlessness of soul, thoughts, feelings.”
A detail characteristic of the Gospel of Bulgakov is the combination of miraculous power and a feeling of fatigue and loss in the protagonist. The death of the hero is described as a universal catastrophe - the end of the world: “half-darkness came, and lightning streaked black sky. Fire suddenly sprayed out of it, and the centurion shouted: “Take off the chain!” - drowned in the roar... Darkness covered Yershalaim. The downpour came suddenly... The water fell so terribly that when the soldiers ran down, raging streams were already flying after them.”
Despite the fact that the plot seems completed - Yeshua is executed, the author seeks to assert that the victory of evil over good cannot be the result of social and moral confrontation; this, according to Bulgakov, is not accepted by human nature itself, and the entire course of civilization should not allow it. It seems that Yeshua never realized that he had died. He was alive all the time and left alive. It seems that the word “died” itself is not in the Golgotha episodes. He remained alive. He is dead only to Levi, to Pilate's servants.
The great tragic philosophy of Yeshua's life is that the right to the truth (and the choice of life in the truth) is also tested and affirmed by the choice of death. He “managed” not only his life, but also his death. He “suspended” his bodily death just as he “suspended” his spiritual life.
Thus, he truly “controls” himself (and all order on earth in general), controls not only Life, but also Death.
Yeshua's "self-creation", "self-government" stood the test of death, and therefore he became immortal.
(No ratings yet)
Other writings:
- Yeshua Ha-Nozri Characteristics literary hero This main character novel written by the Master. This hero means biblical jesus Christ. Yeshua was also betrayed by Judas and crucified. But Bulgakov in his work emphasizes the significant difference between his character and Christ. Yeshua is not Read More......
- Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is an extraordinary, bewitching work that many times we will want to pick up and read with the same trepidation and interest as the first time. All Bulgakov's heroes appear before us alive. It feels like Read More......
- The novel “The Master and Margarita” is an amazing, mysterious work that includes two narrative levels: satirical (everyday) and symbolic (biblical). Of the twenty-six chapters of the novel, four are devoted to the events of biblical history as interpreted by Bulgakov. This is a kind of “novel within a novel.” At the same time Read More......
- The chapters dedicated to Yeshua and Pontius Pilate in M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” are given a small place in comparison with the rest of the book. These are only four chapters, but they are precisely the axis around which the rest of the story revolves. Story Read More......
- The novel “The Master and Margarita” became the final one in the life and work of M. A. Bulgakov. The writer put all his thoughts, ideas, and experiences into this work. Here Bulgakov raises a lot of problems. One of them is the problem of conscience. This problem is inseparable from the image Read More......
- Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is rightfully considered not only greatest work literature, but also a storehouse of philosophical thoughts amazing in their depth. The novel itself consists of two parts. This is a novel about the Master and a novel written by Read More......
- The novel “The Master and Margarita” can be considered at the same time fantastic, philosophical, love-lyrical, and satirical. Bulgakov gives us a “novel within a novel” and both of them are united by one idea - the search for moral truth and the fight for it. The New Testament of the Bible contains Read More......
- Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov in his works, such as the unfinished satirical “Theatrical Novel” and the novel “The Life of Monsieur de Moliere,” addressed the topic of the relationship between the artist and society. But this question acquires its deepest embodiment in the writer’s main work – “The Master and Read More......
Woland's image
Messire Woland is the most powerful actor novel. He has enormous power over the inhabitants of the real and afterlife worlds, and his power is constantly emphasized by members of his retinue. Immediately after his appearance in Moscow, life is turned upside down, and no one can resist him, including people from the “relevant authorities.” Woland is capable of recklessly controlling people's destinies at his own discretion, making a person unhappy or happy.
Bulgakov's Woland, like his assistants, is not a bearer of evil in the novel. He is not a representative of a force opposing God, but rather his assistant, doing his dirty work. Good, the embodiment of which is the Master and Yeshua Ha-Nozri, is depicted by the author as weak and defenseless. The role of Woland and his retinue is to protect the forces of good from evil. Thus, these characters bring justice to the earth. Woland is in the novel a symbol of retribution according to deserts, a symbol of the highest justice. Thus, he punished Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny for their lack of faith.
The main characters of the novel, the Master and Margarita, are the only ones whom Woland did not punish, but rewarded. For this, Margarita had to endure serious tests: having committed a fall, maintain her pride, having made a promise, not abandon it, even sacrificing herself. Satan rewards the master without tests - only for the novel he wrote and for the suffering suffered because of this novel. He returns the burned novel to the Master, convincing him that “manuscripts do not burn.”
In Bulgakov's portrayal, Jesus Christ is neither God nor the son of God. Both in behavior and appearance, and in his thoughts there is almost nothing from the hero of the gospel legend. This is a completely earthly, ordinary person, a wandering preacher named Yeshua and nicknamed Ha-Nozri. Yeshua is a physically weak person, experiencing pain and suffering, he is afraid that he will be beaten and humiliated, he is not so brave and not so strong. But at the same time, he is a highly developed individual. He is a man of thought, lives “with his own mind.”
Yeshua was brought as a criminal to the procurator Pontius Pilate, one of the most powerful men in Judea. Pontius Pilate gets into this weak person, the defendant, with great sympathy and respect, because he gave completely sincere answers to all questions, was an interesting conversationalist, and did not give up his convictions in order to save his life.
Yeshua Ha-Nozri is convinced that “there are no evil people in the world.” In addition, he argued that “the temple of the old faith will collapse.” It was for these words that he was sentenced to death, since they undermined the power of the high priest Caiaphas.
Bulgakov's Christ is sincere, kind, honest, wise and weak, i.e. possesses purely human traits. It seems that there is nothing divine at all in the preacher and philosopher. However, there is one feature in his character due to which people declared Yeshua a saint. This trait is mercy, which stemmed from his amazing kindness and belief that “there are no evil people in the world.” Ha-Nozri did not judge anyone for their actions and even for the evil done to him.
In the image of Yeshua Ha-Notsri, Bulgakov portrayed not just a person, he showed him with the best side, the way he should be, an ideal, an example to follow. Yeshua was executed - and at the same time was able to allow himself to forgive his tormentors and executioners. And these same torturers and executioners repented of their crime. This main feature Bulgakov's hero: the ability to make people better, cleaner, happier with the power of words.
In interpreting the image of Jesus Christ as an ideal of moral perfection, Bulgakov departed from traditional, canonical ideas based on the four Gospels and the Apostolic Epistles. V.I. Nemtsev writes: “Yeshua is the author’s embodiment in the deeds of a positive person, to whom the aspirations of the heroes of the novel are directed.”
In the novel, Yeshua is not given a single spectacular heroic gesture. He is an ordinary person: “He is not an ascetic, not a desert dweller, not a hermit, he is not surrounded by the aura of a righteous man or an ascetic, torturing himself with fasting and prayers. Like all people, he suffers from pain and rejoices in being freed from it.”
The mythological plot on which Bulgakov's work is projected is a synthesis of three main elements - the Gospel, the Apocalypse and Faust. Two thousand years ago, “a means of salvation that changed the entire course of world history” was discovered. Bulgakov saw him in the spiritual feat of a man who in the novel is called Yeshua Ha-Nozri and behind whom his great gospel prototype is visible. The figure of Yeshua became Bulgakov's outstanding discovery.
There is information that Bulgakov was not religious, did not go to church, and refused unction before his death. But vulgar atheism was deeply alien to him.
The real new era in the 20th century is also an era of “personification”, a time of new spiritual self-salvation and self-government, the like of which was once revealed to the world in Jesus Christ. Such an act can, according to M. Bulgakov, save our Fatherland in the 20th century. The rebirth of God must take place in each of the people.
The story of Christ in Bulgakov’s novel is presented differently from the Holy Scriptures: the author offers an apocryphal version of the Gospel narrative, in which each of
participants combines opposing features and plays a dual role. “Instead of a direct confrontation between the victim and the traitor, the Messiah and his disciples and those hostile to them, a complex system is formed, between all the members of which relationships of partial similarity appear.” Reinterpretation of the canonical gospel narrative gives Bulgakov's version the character of apocrypha. Conscious and sharp rejection of the canonical New Testament tradition in the novel is manifested in the fact that the records of Levi Matthew (i.e., as it were, the future text of the Gospel of Matthew) are assessed by Yeshua as completely inconsistent with reality. The novel acts as the true version.
The first idea of the apostle and evangelist Matthew in the novel is given by Yeshua himself: “... he walks and walks alone with a goat’s parchment and writes continuously, but I once looked into this parchment and was horrified. I said absolutely nothing of what was written there. I begged him: burn your parchment for God’s sake!” Therefore, Yeshua himself rejects the reliability of the testimony of the Gospel of Matthew. In this regard, he shows unity of views with Woland-Satan: “Who, who,” Woland turns to Berlioz, “but you should know that absolutely nothing of what is written in the Gospels actually ever happened.” . It is no coincidence that the chapter in which Woland began to tell the Master’s novel was titled “The Gospel of the Devil” and “The Gospel of Woland” in the draft versions. Much in the Master's novel about Pontius Pilate is very far from the gospel texts. In particular, there is no scene of the resurrection of Yeshua, the Virgin Mary is absent altogether; Yeshua's sermons do not last three years, as in the Gospel, but, at best, several months.
As for the details of the “ancient” chapters, Bulgakov drew many of them from the Gospels and checked them against reliable historical sources. While working on these chapters, Bulgakov, in particular, carefully studied “The History of the Jews” by Heinrich Graetz, “The Life of Jesus” by D. Strauss, “Jesus against Christ” by A. Barbusse, “The Book of My Genesis” by P. Uspensky, “Gofsemania” by A. M, Fedorov, “Pilate” by G. Petrovsky, “Procurator of Judea” by A. France, “The Life of Jesus Christ” by Ferrara, and of course, the Bible, the Gospels. A special place was occupied by E. Renan’s book “The Life of Jesus,” from which the writer drew chronological data and some historical details. Afranius came from Renan's Antichrist into Bulgakov's novel.
To create many of the details and images of the historical part of the novel, the primary impulses were some works of art. Thus, Yeshua is endowed with some qualities of Servant's Don Quixote. To Pilate’s question whether Yeshua really considers all people good, including the centurion Mark the Rat-Slayer who beat him, Ga-Nozri answers in the affirmative and adds that Mark, “truly, is an unhappy person... If you could talk to him, you’d suddenly feel dreamy said the prisoner, “I’m sure he would change dramatically.” In Cervantes’s novel: Don Quixote is insulted in the Duke’s castle by a priest who calls him “an empty head,” but meekly replies: “I must not see. And I don’t see anything offensive in the words of this kind man. The only thing I regret is that he didn’t stay with us - I would have proved to him that he was wrong.” It is the idea of “infection with good” that makes Bulgakov’s hero similar to the Knight of the Sad Image. In most cases, literary sources are so organically woven into the fabric of the narrative that for many episodes it is difficult to say unambiguously whether they are taken from life or from books.
M. Bulgakov, depicting Yeshua, does not show anywhere with a single hint that this is the Son of God. Yeshua is represented everywhere as a Man, a philosopher, a sage, a healer, but as a Man. There is no aura of holiness hovering over Yeshua, and in the scene of painful death there is a purpose - to show what injustice is happening in Judea.
The image of Yeshua is only a personified image of the moral and philosophical ideas of humanity, of the moral law entering into an unequal battle with legal law. It is no coincidence that the portrait of Yeshua as such is virtually absent from the novel: the author indicates his age, describes clothing, facial expression, mentions a bruise and abrasion - but nothing more: “... they brought in... a man of about twenty-seven. This man was dressed in an old and torn blue chiton. His head was covered with a white bandage with a strap around his forehead, and his hands were tied behind his back. The man had a large bruise under his left eye and an abrasion with dried blood in the corner of his mouth. The man brought in looked at the procurator with anxious curiosity.”
To Pilate’s question about his relatives, he replies: “There is no one. I am alone in the world." But here’s what’s strange again: this does not at all sound like a complaint about loneliness... Yeshua does not seek compassion, there is no feeling of inferiority or orphanhood in him. For him it sounds something like this: “I am alone - the whole world is in front of me,” or “I am alone in front of the whole world,” or “I am this world.” Yeshua is self-sufficient, absorbing the whole world into himself. V. M. Akimov rightly emphasized that “it is difficult to understand the integrity of Yeshua, his equality with himself - and with the whole world that he absorbed into himself.” One cannot but agree with V. M. Akimov that the complex simplicity of Bulgakov’s hero is difficult to comprehend, irresistibly convincing and omnipotent. Moreover, the power of Yeshua Ha-Nozri is so great and so all-encompassing that at first many take it for weakness, even for spiritual lack of will.
However, Yeshua Ha-Nozri is not an ordinary person. Woland-Satan sees himself as completely equal with him in the heavenly hierarchy. Bulgakov's Yeshua is the bearer of the idea of the God-man.
The tramp-philosopher is strong with his naive faith in goodness, which neither the fear of punishment nor the spectacle of blatant injustice, of which he himself becomes a victim, can be taken away from him. His unfailing faith exists despite conventional wisdom and the object lessons of execution. In everyday practice, this idea of goodness, unfortunately, is not protected. “The weakness of Yeshua’s preaching is in its ideality,” V. Ya. Lakshin rightly believes, “but Yeshua is stubborn, and the absolute integrity of his faith in goodness has its own strength.” The author sees in his hero not only a religious preacher and reformer - he embodies the image of Yeshua in free spiritual activity.
Possessing developed intuition, subtle and strong intellect, Yeshua is able to guess the future, and not just a thunderstorm, which “will begin later, in the evening,” but also the fate of his teaching, which is already being incorrectly stated by Levi.
Page 1 ]
Most people have read Bulgakov's incredible novel The Master and Margarita. Critics had different opinions about the work. And people who read it react ambiguously to the book, at the same time, each person experiences completely contradictory feelings and emotions.
The uniqueness of Bulgakov's novel
Today, readers have the opportunity to watch a film based on the novel “The Master and Margarita”, as well as attend a performance in the theater. For quite a long time, critics tried to determine the type of work, to understand what idea it should convey to the reader, but they never succeeded. This is because the book written by Bulgakov combined many genres and various elements. Surprisingly, the mythical novel was not published during the writer’s lifetime, as it was considered mediocre and hopeless. But exactly twenty-six years have passed since the death of the book’s creator, many became interested in it, and it was published in 1966. What’s incredible is that all this long time Bulgakov’s wife kept the manuscript and believed that one day it would become a real bestseller.
Favorite hero
Many people, reading the novel "The Master and Margarita", have their favorite characters. Yeshua Ha-Nozri is considered especially interesting. The writer identifies him with Jesus Christ and gives him a particularly sacred appearance. Nevertheless, the plot twists in such a way that Yeshua is completely different from the image of the gospel saint.
Yeshua Ha-Nozri means Jesus in Hebrew. The meaning of the unusual nickname is still unclear. The unique name was not invented by Bulgakov; he only borrowed it from one of the characters in Chevkin’s play. The writer wanted him to be considered and be the main character of the novel. Nowadays, many people think that the main place in the book is occupied by the Master and Margarita themselves, as well as dark forces.
The Making of the Hero Yeshua
Mikhail Bulgakov spent a lot of time thinking about the image of the hero he so wanted to describe. As a basis, he took some chapters from the Gospel, which passed his own verification and careful processing of the information contained in them. Thus, the writer wanted to make sure that he was right. This is how Yeshua Ha-Nozri arose, whose image many, and Bulgakov himself, compared with the personality of Jesus.
In addition to information from the Gospel, the writer drew some plots and details from works of art. Perhaps this is why “The Master and Margarita” has an undefined genre, since it is based on fantasy, satire, mysticism, parable, melodrama and much more.
Mikhail Bulgakov, creating the image of Yeshua, first of all relied on his preferences, thoughts about a full-fledged, morally healthy person. He understood that society was filled to the brim with dirt, envy and other negative emotions. Therefore, Yeshua is the prototype of a new man who is true to his convictions, fair and honest by nature. In this way, Bulgakov decided to influence society and each individual separately.
Characteristics
Bulgakov pays great attention to Yeshua Ha-Nozri and specifically emphasizes the significant difference between his beloved hero and Jesus Christ. The similarities between the characters are reflected in some aspects. For example, Yeshua was also betrayed by Judas and crucified on the cross, but otherwise he is a completely different person. He looks like an ordinary tramp who likes to philosophize and may have a natural fear of physical pain. Jesus is shrouded in mysticism and depicted as a deity, something holy and inaccessible to an ordinary mortal.
Mikhail Bulgakov tried to create a completely different Yeshua Ha-Nozri. The character's characterization is quite simple, but extremely interesting. This was a man from Nazareth who called himself a wandering philosopher. The heroes themselves, namely the Master, who was working on his own novel, and Woland, described Yeshua as a prototype of Jesus Christ. Thus, Yeshua Ha-Nozri and Jesus have some similarities, a similar fate. But in other respects they are too different from each other.
The place of Yeshua Ha-Nozri in the novel
The key character in the novel is a symbol of Light and Good. He is the complete opposite of Woland, who is considered the Lord of Darkness. Yeshua is present in almost everyone storylines. Bulgakov writes about him at the beginning, he is also mentioned in the main text and at the end of the book. The bottom line is that Ha-Nozri does not act as God. In general, throughout the entire novel, Bulgakov never wrote about heaven or hell. All this is relative for the creator of the book, and there is no talk of one God at all.
The ideology taken as a basis is more similar to Gnostic or Manichaean. In this regard, the parties are clearly divided into good and evil. As they say, there is no third option. At the same time, it is clear that representatives of both spheres act in the book. From the side of good is Yeshua Ha-Nozri, the representative of evil is Woland. They are completely equal in rights and have no right to interfere in each other’s existence and activities.
Unpredictable plot
It was noted above that good and evil cannot interfere in each other's affairs. But in the novel you can find a moment when Yeshua begins to read the Master’s book. He really likes the work and decides to send Matthew Levi to Woland. Yeshua's request is to free the Master and Margarita from evil and reward them with peace. Yeshua Ha-Nozri, whose image seems to be woven from goodness, decides to take an unpredictable act, because an agreement on non-interference in each other’s affairs was concluded many years ago. Thus, Good takes risks and opposes active Evil.
Yeshua's abilities
In addition to the fact that Yeshua Ha-Nozri, whose quotes were memorized by almost all people, was an excellent philosopher, he had great power. This is clearly reflected on the pages of the novel, when the philosopher cured Pilate of a headache. Yes, he had a real gift, but at the same time he was an ordinary person, which Mikhail Bulgakov emphasizes. In the novel “The Master and Margarita” everything was described completely differently than in the Bible. This is evidenced by the scene that occurred in the plot: Yeshua looked into Matthew’s manuscripts and was horrified, because almost everything that was indicated there was untrue. Some events coincided with reality, but only half. So Bulgakov wanted to convey to people that the Bible is not a standard and, perhaps, half of what is written there is a lie.
In addition, the writer points out that Yeshua died without ever lying or betraying his principles and beliefs. It was for this that all the people were grateful to him and admired the sacred personality. Yeshua became unusual only because he was real, fair and courageous. Bulgakov tries to emphasize all these qualities and convey to people: this is the ideal of a real person.
Character Execution
After a case was opened against Yeshua, I decided to deal with it without violence. In his report, he wrote that the wandering philosopher did not pose any danger and was generally considered mentally ill. As a result, Yeshua was sent to Caesarea Strato on the Mediterranean Sea. This happened because the man caused unrest in the crowd with his speeches, and they simply decided to eliminate him.
While a prisoner, Yeshua wrote a report to the procurator, in which he expressed his opinion about the actions of the authorities - that it is they who make people prisoners, and without them a person will live in a completely different world, that is, in a place where justice and truth reign. After reading the report, the procurator decided that the execution of Yeshua Ha-Nozri was inevitable. He argued this by saying that the man had insulted the ruler, and this could not be justified.
At the same time, Pontius Pilate shouted that the best, fairest and most honest government that can be on earth is the rule of Emperor Tiberius. At this point, Yeshua's case was closed. After this, the execution of the hero took place, the most terrible and difficult - he was crucified. wooden cross. With the death of Yeshua, everything around begins to plunge into darkness. At the same time, the inhabitants, whom the philosopher considered his friends and trusted them, show themselves from a completely different side. The townspeople come to admire the terrible execution; the picture they see delights some. Thus ends earthly path Yeshua Ha-Nozri, whose characteristics make it possible to appreciate all his severity.
Instead of an afterword
To form your opinion about the hero, you need to read Bulgakov’s unique masterpiece for yourself. And only after that you can watch a film based on it. The time allotted to get to know the characters of “The Master and Margarita” and their fate will not be wasted, but will bring great pleasure.
